Analysis Of Susan Campbell Bartoletti's The Boy Who Dared

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Recommended: The impact of the Nazis on Germany

Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s historical drama story, “The Boy Who Dared,” takes place in Germany -- a time where Hitler started ruling. Helmuth Guddat Hübener, a young boy, desired to fight for the “fatherland.” He believed the Nazis were beings of good but later finds out that the government, including Hitler, were spewing lies and executing innocent bystanders. Germany is split between supporting Hitler openly, or secretly denying him, whilst Helmuth is stuck between duty to his country, or fighting for what is right. One lesson that the story suggests is that the lie is sometimes better than the truth, even if it is wrong.
In the middle of the story, a certain event that shows that the truth can have consequences, makes its appearance. Heinrich …show more content…

In the story, Helmuth had violated the law of listening to foreign radio, and creating “enemy propaganda,” or better known as pamphlets, to spread the real truth. He wrote on the leaflets about how Hitler had been deceiving them, hiding their eyes from the truth, and how the Nazis shouldn’t exist. His friends, Karl-Heinz Schnibbe and Rudi Wobbe, helped him throughout his journey to tell Germany what really was going on. Together, they spread leaflets left and right around their neighborhood, knowing full well of the consequences. Eventually, however, they were all caught due to Helmuth’s other acquaintance, Gerhard Düwer, who ratted him out due to the “interrogation,” the Gestapo had put him through. Helmuth gave in after a week, and reluctantly told them Karl and Ruddi’s names. They were trialed to describe their crimes and further question them, yet Helmuth had spoken out boldly to take the full blame for his friends. On page 163, he exclaims out to the audience, “All I did was tell the truth, and you have sentenced me to die, just for telling the truth. My time is now but your time will come!” He was sentenced “to death and the loss of his civil rights during his lifetime.” Even for just speaking the truth, Helmuth as a 16 year old, was sentenced to death row. If Helmuth had stayed blinded by the lie, then he would have had a higher chance of survival. Instead, he was executed

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